A social measurement framework for brands during the COVID-19 pandemic
As the coronavirus continues to disrupt life, every brand is pivoting toward "helpfulness" as its north star for marketing communications. Here's how to know if your brand social is truly being helpful or just giving lip service.
Translating social media views, likes, comments, sentiment, click-throughs and shares to indicators of business value has been an aim of brand marketers for nearly a decade. I remember the first time my Golin colleagues and I worked together to develop a customer journey-based measurement methodology for Unilever way back in 2013. And since that time, we’ve continued to refine and customize that model for consumer brands, sales-driven B2B organizations and healthcare companies. Today, we offer clients an advanced analytics capability, rooted in data science, that is not only descriptive but prescriptive and predictive.
But in the current pandemic environment, the brief has changed. “In these trying times,” brands are (finally and for the most part) trying earnestly to realize a purpose beyond profit. My colleague Laura Sutphen penned a brilliant guide for how to act with purpose during COVID-19.
As the brief has changed, so have the requirements for measurement. Instead of asking us about business outcomes, like how responding to customers’ questions in social media impacts attitude toward the brand, marketers are asking us how to gauge the effectiveness of their purpose-driven social content, media buys, influencer outreach and community management. They want to know “are we being helpful?” We have developed a new measurement framework for social media marketers to use in answering that question. The framework outlines a customer journey of sorts, but instead of the goal being to sell product, it’s to realize helpfulness.
Measuring the helpfulness of social content
Key question: When our brand publishes a post, does the target audience find it helpful?
Exposure: Is our helpful content reaching the right audiences?
• Targeted reach of paid media
• Organic follower audience reach
Consumption: Are our audiences paying attention to our helpful content?
• Click-throughs from social posts to more in-depth helpful content
• Video completion rate
Appreciation: Are our audiences telling us they find value in our helpful content?
• Likes and other positive reactions to our posts
• Comments containing phrases like “thanks” or “is helpful”
Utilization: Are our audiences using our content to help others?
• Shares of our posts
Measuring the helpfulness of proactive engagement / influencer outreach
Key question: When our brand publicly and proactively responds to or mentions an influencer, does that influencer find it helpful?
Response: Have we earned the attention of the influencer such that they take the time to acknowledge or respond?
• Response rate
Appreciation: Is the influencer telling us they find value in our helpful content?
• Likes and other positive reactions to our mentions
• Responses containing phrases like “thanks” or “is helpful”
Utilization: Is the influencer using our content to help others?
• Shares of our posts
Measuring the helpfulness of reactive engagement / community management
Key question: Are we being helpful to our customers and other stakeholders when they tell us they need our help?
Response Rate: Are we responding to our customers and stakeholders?
• Response rate to engageable mentions and comments
• Absence of complaints about non-response
Response Time: Are we responding in a timely manner to customers and stakeholders?
• Time to response for engageable mentions and comments
• Absence of complaints about response time
Appreciation: Are we providing helpful information and solving problems for customers and stakeholders?
• Likes and other positive reactions to our mentions
• Responses containing phrases like “thanks” or “is helpful” or “you solved my problem”
• Absence of complaints about unresolved issues
Utilization: Are customers and stakeholders using our responses to help others?
• Shares of our responses
Like everything right now, the situation for brand marketers in social will continue to change as we progress from peak to new normal. As customer and stakeholder needs change, brands will continue to evolve their social content, engagement and measurement to meet them.
Please leave feedback, questions and suggested edits and additions in the comments. I’m also happy to chat live over video anytime. Hit me up on Twitter or reach out via email. Stay safe and healthy.
#JustStayHome #WashYourHands